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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Festive colors of Ganesh Chaturthi - Ganpati Pandals, Mumbai

O
Lord Vinayaka! The remover of all obstacles, the son of Lord Shiva,
with a form which is very short, with mouse as Thy vehicle, with sweet
pudding in hand, with wide ears and long hanging trunk, I prostrate at
Thy lotus-like Feet!

It’s that time of the year again! The entire city is draped in a colorful collage of myriad hues and is swaying to the musical mantra of Ganpati Bappa Morya! After keeping us waiting for a year long, the elephant headed and pot bellied, the very cute and charming Lord Ganesha is back in town! In a country like India which believes in the culture of ‘Guest is God’ (Atithi Devo Bhava), just try to picture the scenario when God Himself descends as one!!!

1st September – 12th September 2011 (Ganesh Chaturthi Festival):

Yes, one of my favorite festivals, the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival is already on the go! The festival marks the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the Lord of knowledge and wisdom, and falls on the bright fortnight of the Hindu calendar month of bhadrapada (August/September). It lasts for eleven days starting with the Lord’s arrival on the first day (Shukla paksha Chaturthi) and concluding on the 11th day (Ananth Chaturdashi) when the deity is immersed in water bodies symbolizing His journey back to His abode.

Although this is a festival that’s celebrated by Hindus throughout the country but no other city adores the deity in a way like Mumbai does! During the 11 day period, life in the city beats to the cadenced tunes of love, affection, and devotion and Vedic chants of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’ and 'Mangal Murthi Morya' resonate in the atmosphere. Hatches are buried, hugs and smiles take their place and people revel in the effervescent music of joy, togetherness and ecstasy.

Me living in Mumbai, It comes as no surprise that I have a great affinity for the festival and Ganesh pandal hopping in Mumbai forms one unique aspect of my celebrations. Your presence had made it a lot special for me last year, remember? And this year is no different, what with me still having the wonderful company in all of you!

Thus, once again, I present a two-part chronological series attempting to provide a photographic journey of Lord Ganesha on earth, this being the first one highlighting His arrival (Ganesha sthapna and Mumbai Pandal Darshan) and the second one showing His departure back to His heavenly abode in Kailash(Ganesh Visarjan).

So, pack your bags and bundle up your woes… Get ready to join me, as I embark on a yatra (pilgrimage) of a slightly different kind… The Festive Ganesh Yatra… And let’s together enjoy this spirited carnival!

Huge canopied tents like these called as pandalscome up in almost every other lane, society and locality beautifully created by neighborhood puja manadals (committees), and innumerable numbers of homes are cleaned and decorated with festoons and flowers to welcome the divine guest.

An artisan carves out a Ganesha idol ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival

These murthis (idols) are then transported to shops from where they are picked up by devotees. Smaller idols are placed in homes while the larger idols are placed in tents.

A small girl affectionately adores her new guest

Finally on the D-Day, His birthday (the first day of the festival), He arrives amid songs, music, chants and dance. Priests breathe life in the idols by chanting of mantras and The Lord makes Himself comfortable in one of His temporary dwellings.

Mumbai Ganpati Pandals

For the next 11 days… He is quite a busy man, I must say! Life revolves around Him. Daily prayers and rituals are performed. He is the apple of everyone’s eye; He loves everyone and is loved by all. He is treated like a king, every need, every requirement of His, is well attended to and on the days of His departure (known as ‘Ganesh Visarjan’ and done on the 1 and a half, 5th, 7th and 11th days), He is given a grand farewell as well!

Accessible to one and all, He soon gets down to His job of removing the obstacles (Vighnaharta) from people’s lives and hearing out their woes. Meanwhile, He also LOVES to gorge on ladoos and modaks (a type of sweet)… loads, loads, loads of them. Besides this, simple blades of grass or 'durva' also make Him happy. But if you don’t have any of this, no worries... a loving heart full of devotion and sincerity is just about enough to please Him and delights Him no end.

What a wonderfully colourful festival this looks. I love all those images of Ganesh and especially that huge sculpture being transported on the lorry, just how big is it? Thanks for a interesting and informative post, I do hope you post more.

The prayer to this lovely deity, Ganesh seems to be incorporated in people's daily life very naturally. How unique his shape is! I have heard there is a statue of Ganesh in the temple in Nara, but I haven’t seen him. I’ll search for the location of the temple and visit to pray to him. I feel the festival filled with warm tenderness.

Nice post there.I got the feel of the festival, but I must disagree that the festival in Mumbai is the best one. Every town comes up its own unique way of celebration.

I personally find the celebrations in Mumbai overly commercialized. If you want to witness the beauty of traditions you have to be in Pune in the festival. Especially the Visarjan parade is spectacular.

Last year I had visited my native place, Goa for Ganesh festival and I rank it the best spiritual celebration of the festival. Its more of a personal and family celebration in Goa, and the enthusiasm is well beyond measures...

I had written about my Goa visit in my blogs, have a look here for the details( I do not wish to advertise my blog here, I just wanted to present a different take on the festival)

Hi Arti,It looks like amazing festival. Image of Ganesh is so unique for me. I understand that a small girl adore Ganesh like in one of your photo. Elephant has special meaning for Indian, I wonder?THank you for sharing a very interesting festival.Have a lovely week!Sarah

Hi Arti, It looks like Lord Ganesha is accustomed to many, many sweet! I liked seeing all the sculptures of him, both large and small. The festival looks like it's bringing smiles to the faces of the people.

The pandals are very unique in north india here too in chennai we have started to have pandals ... just the other day we saw about 30 lorries carrying ganesh murthis for visarjan , it was fun to watch ... I love the picture where the girl is looking and smiling at lord ganesha : )

Its been long time that I am seeing your blog honestly. Actually my internet connection does not allow me to do so, you provide so many good photographs and most of the time I could not see. Today was one of better day.I don't need to comment on your post, like always they are just awesome :)

Arti dear, you are so kind to come and leave a comment!!!! What a wonderful festival this must be. A colleague of mine just came back from India and loved the people SO MUCH. It is a place I have yet to discover, but from what I can see, the traditions are delights to the eyes and imagination for us Westerners....many delights for sure.

Search and ye shall find!

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Hi there! I am Arti - a 20 something girl with an inherited travel gene, often found on the road travelling with my best friend, inspiration and guide - my father. I love travelling to spiritual places and consider my external yatras as continuous learning journeys within; a journey where I seek to discover and experience the real treasures of this life someday. Besides helping my own self, this blog of mine also aims to help those planning to make a trip to these places or simply provide a virtual tour to the rest.
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